Could have sworn I posted this...but clearly not. So now to dredge up my memories of a trip 3 months ago with several in between that I know i was meant to write but got caught in more trips!!
Cha Ca is a Vietnamese curried fried fish dish- some would say their national dish. I was rather amused to hear that restaurant critic AA Gill put Cha Ca as one of the best ways to start breakfast...mmm...not sure about that. Id eat congi or Vegemite under scrambled eggs for breakfast any day....but buttery fried fish.......
And if fried fish wasnt enough- it turns out that Fried Fish Restaurant serving Fried Fish is on Fried Fish street- yes Cha Ca La Vong restaurant- that serves only Cha Ca- is on Cha Ca street!! Thats pretty much tantamount to painting yourself in green and yellow and eating a vegemite sandwich while singing "I come from the land down under" on Vegemite Street.
Wonder if there is such a thing as Vegemite Street?
Well a web search says there is a street named after vegemite- Theodore St in Canberra- which is named after Cyril Callister, the Chief Chemist of Kraft Walker Cheese Company which still produces Vegemite. I hear you asking for help connecting the dots there. Well not even askJeeves could help on connecting Theodore with Cyril, bar one hit for Teddy Roosevelt and vegemite without any explanation. Given Obama took a swipe at Vegemite recently proclaiming it "horrible", I can imagine that Kraft doesnt need the publicity of the views of two Presidents of USA.
Certainly Cyril did develop the spread per his boss's request to utilise one of the richest known natural vitamin B sources - brewer’s yeast- which was a discarded product at the time. And so vegemite was launched to millions of future happy little Vegemites in 1927. While no street appears to be directly named after Australia's favourite...spread? seasoning? soup base? gravy base, it is true that the first scanned product in a supermarket was Vegemite, that some 22 million jars are sold every year and I have kissed Vegemite Rock- which exists in a little seaside suburb of Melbourne opposite where the factory was originally located.
I digress- Cha Ca (could follow anotherlate night Australian angle now and think of that little feathered dancing granny from the Amazon on Clive James Late night show at this stage) but let me stick with garoupa fish- which is what is in Cha Ca. Boiled or fried in some oily substance, you take your noodles, add the fish then add various additions in front of you such as peanuts, pickled vegetables and various sauces. It was nice.....like any fish cooked in a heavy butter sauce would be...but would I put it in the "1000 places to see before you die" book??
Page rip out on this one Im afraid. The restaurant is no different to thousands in Vietnam..that means cheap furniture, gaudy colours and an abundance of plastic flowers.
The dish- well its a bit like putting a hole in a wall in some back street in Edinburgh, selling deep fried mars bars from it and getting it featured in the 1000 places to see before you die book.
Ill pass!
Cha Ca is a Vietnamese curried fried fish dish- some would say their national dish. I was rather amused to hear that restaurant critic AA Gill put Cha Ca as one of the best ways to start breakfast...mmm...not sure about that. Id eat congi or Vegemite under scrambled eggs for breakfast any day....but buttery fried fish.......
And if fried fish wasnt enough- it turns out that Fried Fish Restaurant serving Fried Fish is on Fried Fish street- yes Cha Ca La Vong restaurant- that serves only Cha Ca- is on Cha Ca street!! Thats pretty much tantamount to painting yourself in green and yellow and eating a vegemite sandwich while singing "I come from the land down under" on Vegemite Street.
Wonder if there is such a thing as Vegemite Street?
Well a web search says there is a street named after vegemite- Theodore St in Canberra- which is named after Cyril Callister, the Chief Chemist of Kraft Walker Cheese Company which still produces Vegemite. I hear you asking for help connecting the dots there. Well not even askJeeves could help on connecting Theodore with Cyril, bar one hit for Teddy Roosevelt and vegemite without any explanation. Given Obama took a swipe at Vegemite recently proclaiming it "horrible", I can imagine that Kraft doesnt need the publicity of the views of two Presidents of USA.
Certainly Cyril did develop the spread per his boss's request to utilise one of the richest known natural vitamin B sources - brewer’s yeast- which was a discarded product at the time. And so vegemite was launched to millions of future happy little Vegemites in 1927. While no street appears to be directly named after Australia's favourite...spread? seasoning? soup base? gravy base, it is true that the first scanned product in a supermarket was Vegemite, that some 22 million jars are sold every year and I have kissed Vegemite Rock- which exists in a little seaside suburb of Melbourne opposite where the factory was originally located.
I digress- Cha Ca (could follow anotherlate night Australian angle now and think of that little feathered dancing granny from the Amazon on Clive James Late night show at this stage) but let me stick with garoupa fish- which is what is in Cha Ca. Boiled or fried in some oily substance, you take your noodles, add the fish then add various additions in front of you such as peanuts, pickled vegetables and various sauces. It was nice.....like any fish cooked in a heavy butter sauce would be...but would I put it in the "1000 places to see before you die" book??
Page rip out on this one Im afraid. The restaurant is no different to thousands in Vietnam..that means cheap furniture, gaudy colours and an abundance of plastic flowers.
The dish- well its a bit like putting a hole in a wall in some back street in Edinburgh, selling deep fried mars bars from it and getting it featured in the 1000 places to see before you die book.
Ill pass!
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